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Nation in brief

FBI agent: Virginia man admitted plan to kill Bush

By wire services
Published March 2, 2005

ALEXANDRIA, Va. - A Virginia man accused of joining al-Qaida and plotting to assassinate President Bush admitted his guilt and pondered hijackings similar to the Sept. 11 attacks, an FBI agent testified Tuesday.

The testimony came at a pretrial hearing at which a federal magistrate said Ahmed Omar Abu Ali posed a "grave danger" and ordered that he remain jailed pending trial.

Abu Ali, 23, was charged last week with providing support to al-Qaida and conspiring to assassinate the president. Authorities allege that Abu Ali, who grew up in Virginia, joined al-Qaida while studying in Saudi Arabia.

FBI Agent Barry Cole testified that Abu Ali admitted many times that he joined al-Qaida and discussed various potential acts, including a plan in which he would personally assassinate Bush.

Cole said other plans included hijacking planes in Great Britain and Australia and using them as missiles to attack targets in the United States, a plan to free prisoners at Guantanamo Bay and a plan to destroy naval ships in U.S. ports.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - The trial of a former medical examiner accused of staging a bizarre bomb attack on himself ended Tuesday with the jury unable to reach a verdict.

U.S. District Judge Bernice Donald declared a mistrial after the jury spent almost three days deliberating the fate of Dr. O.C. Smith, who was charged with lying to federal investigators and illegally possessing a bomb.

Smith remains free without bail until prosecutors decide if he will stand trial again. The charges carry a maximum 20 years in prison, though federal guidelines would call for a much lighter sentence upon conviction.

Smith was found in a county morgue stairwell in June 2002 with his feet, hands and head wrapped in barbed wire and a motion-sensitive bomb hung around his neck.

He told authorities he was attacked by an unknown assailant who threw a caustic chemical in his face.

Prosecutors said Smith faked the attack because of a mental disorder that causes a craving for attention.

SANTA MARIA, Calif. - Jurors in the Michael Jackson child molestation trial Tuesday watched the TV documentary that sparked the case, seeing the pop star hold hands with his accuser and talk about hosting sleepovers with children at his Neverland Ranch.

The documentary Living With Michael Jackson was shown after defense attorney Thomas Mesereau Jr. finished an opening statement in which he suggested the entertainer may testify and said authorities found no DNA evidence in the entertainer's bedroom to support the charges. Jackson is not on the defense witness list.

Prosecutors say Jackson plied his accuser, then a 13-year-old cancer survivor, with alcohol and showed him sexually explicit images before molesting him at Neverland.

"Mr. Jackson will freely admit that he does read girlie magazines from time to time," Mesereau said. "He absolutely does not show them to children."

WHITESBURG, Ky. - An eastern Kentucky woman resigned from her position on the School Board after she was indicted on accusations she tried to rape a 15-year-old high school student.

Lisa Bentley, 44, also faces charges of indecent exposure and giving drugs to a minor. She is free on $50,000 bail, and her attorney says she plans to plead not guilty at her arraignment April 13.

The indictment alleges that Bentley attempted to "induce, assist or cause" the boy to engage in sex. That resulted in the charge of third-degree attempted rape and of unlawful transaction with a minor.

The indictment also alleged Bentley exposed her genital area to the boy, resulting in the indecent exposure charge.

[Last modified March 2, 2005, 00:48:07]